Data Literacy projects in Canada: Field notes from the Open Data Institute, Toronto node

Open data is flourishing in Canada, but there are few formalized data literacy initiatives. Civic technology organizations such as the Toronto Node of the Open Data Institute (ODI Toronto), in partnership with public institutions and advocacy groups, are helping to fill the gap in data literacy through workshops and accessible hackathons. These organizations are collaboratively pursuing the goal of ensuring that open data benefits more than just a minority of technologically privileged Canadians

No Justice, Only Struggle

2022 has been a year of overlapping crises. The so-called “Freedom Convoys” paralyzing Canadian communities, the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause excess death and disability, the war in Ukraine, the intensifying effects of climate change, and increasing inflation have all signaled that we find ourselves in a new era, one that can be described as authoritarian capitalism. In this article, we view the restructuring of Canadian universities as yet another facet of authoritarian capitalism, which uses overlapping crises to further proletarianize library labour and fully subsume it into the “learning factory.” Using Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson’s theorization of the politics of capital’s operations, we examine the library restructuring processes taking place at four Canadian universities: Alberta, Brock, Laurentian, and OCAD. We view the reorganizations taking place there as efforts on behalf of university administrators to use the intensification of global forces of capitalism to exploit academic librarian labour. Ultimately, we argue that Canadian librarians are witnessing both formal and real subsumption in Canadian universities, precipitated by the overlapping crises outlined earlier. As a result, we insist that librarians need to develop a politics of struggle to build collective consciousness and action in the face of authoritarian capitalism

It is Our Flagship: Surveying the Landscape of Digital Interactive Displays in Learning Environments

This paper presents the findings of an environmental scan conducted as part of a Digital Exhibits Intern Librarian Project at the Edmonton Public Library in 2016. As part of the Library’s 2016–2018 Business Plan objective to define the vision for a digital exhibits service, this research project aimed to understand the current landscape of digital displays in learning institutions globally. The resulting study consisted of 39 structured interviews with libraries, museums, galleries, schools, and creative design studios. The environmental scan explored the technical infrastructure of digital displays, their user groups, various uses for the technologies within organizational contexts, the content sources, scheduling models, and resourcing needs for this emergent service. Additionally, broader themes surrounding challenges and successes were also included in the study. Despite the variety of approaches taken among learning institutions in supporting digital displays, the majority of organizations have expressed a high degree of satisfaction with these technologies

Articulating Our Very Unfreedom: The Impossibility of Refusal in the Contemporary Academy

This paper begins and ends with a provocation: I argue that refusal in librarianship is both impossible and necessary. Reviewing examples of crisis narratives which permeate both American and Canadian universities, I take a materialist perspective on the idea of refusal within academic librarianship. To do so, I draw on the work of Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti, and Rinaldo Walcott to examine the sites of impossibility of refusal in the practice of academic librarianship within contemporary neoliberal education institutions. Then, I analyze the totality of capitalism in setting the limit for the practice of refusal through case studies of direct action, including the Icelandic Women’s Strike of 1975 and the 2020 Scholar Strike Canada. Finally, I identify private property and history as key frames for understanding the contradiction at the heart of refusal of crisis. As such, any refusal that does not address the centrality of labour and private property relations can thus be understood as harm reduction rather than emancipation. Ultimately, I argue that for librarians to refuse would require an abandonment of liberalism as librarianship’s guiding philosophy, and a redefinition of librarianship as such.Cet article s'ouvre et se clos par une provocation : je déclare que le refus en bibliothéconomie est à la fois impossible et nécessaire. En analysant des exemples de récits de crise qui traversent les universités américaines et canadiennes, j'adopte une perspective matérialiste sur l'idée de refus au sein de la bibliothéconomie universitaire. Pour ce faire, je m'appuie sur les travaux d'Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti et Rinaldo Walcott pour examiner les sites d'impossibilité du refus dans la pratique de la bibliothéconomie universitaire au sein des établissements d'enseignement néolibéraux contemporains. Ensuite, j'analyse le capitalisme dans sa totalité pour fixer la limite de la pratique du refus à travers des études de cas d'action directe, notamment la grève des femmes islandaises de 1975 et la grève Scholar Strike Canada de 2020. Enfin, j'identifie la propriété privée et l'histoire comme des cadres clés pour comprendre la contradiction au cœur du refus de crise. De manière concrète tout refus qui ne traite pas de la centralité des relations de travail et de propriété privée peut être compris comme un geste palliatif plutôt que comme une action vers l'émancipation. En fin de compte, je soutiens que pour que les bibliothécaires refusent, il faudrait abandonner le libéralisme comme philosophie directrice de la bibliothéconomie et redéfinir la bibliothéconomie en tant que telle

Community-led Digital Exhibits Service at the Edmonton Public Library: Research and Consultation

This paper presents the findings of the community consultation and research conducted as part of the Digital Exhibits Intern Librarian Project at the Edmonton Public Library in 2016. The research project aimed to understand the local context for a new technology service in Edmonton, including the capacity for content creation and partnership among community organizations aligned with the Library’s mission. The study consisted of a survey and a series of semi-structured interviews. Findings include identification of various audiences and topics for digital projects, prioritization of Library and community partner roles in digital project collaborations, and identification of major components of digital exhibits as areas of project management workflows. Cet article présente les résultats d'une recherche et d'une consultation communautaire menées dans le cadre du Digital Exhibits Intern Librarian Project de la bibliothèque publique d'Edmonton en 2016. Ce projet de recherche visait à mieux comprendre le contexte local pour un nouveau service technologique à Edmonton qui comprend la capacité de créer du contenu et d'établir des partenariats avec des organismes communautaires alignés à la mission de la bibliothèque. Un sondage et une série d'entrevues semi-dirigées ont été utilisés lors de cette étude. Les résultats incluent l'identification de divers auditoires et sujets pour des projets numériques, la priorisation des rôles de la bibliothèques et des partenaires communautaires au sein des projets numériques collaboratifs, et l'identification de principales composantes des expositions numériques en tant que déroulement de projet

Surveying the Landscape of Undergraduate Education in the Digital Humanities

While only a handful of academic institutions have formalized undergraduate programs in the digital humanities in the form of majors, minors, concentrations or certificates, most universities and colleges currently offer courses that fall somewhere along the DH continuum in terms of disciplinary background, course subject matter and methodological approach. This presentation presents the results of a grant-funded study whose purpose was to investigate the extent as well as the nature of undergraduate digital humanities curricula in research institution across North America by analyzing course descriptions, course syllabi and assignment descriptions from 75 unique institutions. Using a content analysis method, this presentation evaluates the presence of project-based course components and disciplinary representation in course catalogues in American and Canadian universities and colleges. In addition, it identifies emerging themes in academic marketing of skill-based approaches and contemplates gaps between research and teaching in the digital humanities in North American undergraduate education. Ultimately, orienting itself in pedagogical theory, this presentation evaluates the extent to which undergraduate DH education in North America balances neoliberal technocratic utopianism with pragmatism and critical theory in its conceptual and practical foundations

Canadian Utopia: Communal Approach to Digital Scholarship

This talk operates on the assumption that critique is important, but acts of imagination and possibility are necessary now more than ever, both in the academy and society more broadly. Inspired by Frederic Jameson reimagining utopia, I am responding to Gaudry and Lorenz’s call to envision a socially just Canadian academy beyond mechanisms of inclusion (2018). Recognizing contemporary debates of indigenization of academic spaces and programs in Canada, I am interested in adopting the ideas of a resurgence-based decolonial indigenization as an opportunity to apply the benefits of balanced power relations to all learners. From this starting point, I explore the digital scholarship centre as a site for putting into practice Ranciere’s theories of radical intellectual equality and a commitment to intellectual liberation. I also draw on Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s idea of land as pedagogy as a frame to reconsider knowledge creation and dissemination. My goal with this presentation is to create a space to ask the following questions: What should be the role of the academy in a society where the material conditions of its members have been met and the fundamental relationship is not based on exchange? Can the digital scholarship centre model non-oppressive organization approaches in the context of a research and learning institution? Digital scholarship centres, much like makerspaces in public libraries, have the potential to embody a commitment to public humanities. However, the very definition of the public good and disciplinarity will require an epistemological reframing in such a proposed utopian context

Articulating Our Very Unfreedom: The Impossibility of Refusal in the Contemporary Academy

This paper begins and ends with a provocation: I argue that refusal in librarianship is both impossible and necessary. Reviewing examples of crisis narratives which permeate both American and Canadian universities, I take a materialist perspective on the idea of refusal within academic librarianship. To do so, I draw on the work of Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti, and Rinaldo Walcott to examine the sites of impossibility of refusal in the practice of academic librarianship within contemporary neoliberal education institutions. Then, I analyze the totality of capitalism in setting the limit for the practice of refusal through case studies of direct action, including the Icelandic Women’s Strike of 1975 and the 2020 Scholar Strike Canada. Finally, I identify private property and history as key frames for understanding the contradiction at the heart of refusal of crisis. As such, any refusal that does not address the centrality of labour and private property relations can thus be understood as harm reduction rather than emancipation. Ultimately, I argue that for librarians to refuse would require an abandonment of liberalism as librarianship’s guiding philosophy, and a redefinition of librarianship as such. Cet article s'ouvre et se clos par une provocation : je déclare que le refus en bibliothéconomie est à la fois impossible et nécessaire. En analysant des exemples de récits de crise qui traversent les universités américaines et canadiennes, j'adopte une perspective matérialiste sur l'idée de refus au sein de la bibliothéconomie universitaire. Pour ce faire, je m'appuie sur les travaux d'Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti et Rinaldo Walcott pour examiner les sites d'impossibilité du refus dans la pratique de la bibliothéconomie universitaire au sein des établissements d'enseignement néolibéraux contemporains. Ensuite, j'analyse le capitalisme dans sa totalité pour fixer la limite de la pratique du refus à travers des études de cas d'action directe, notamment la grève des femmes islandaises de 1975 et la grève Scholar Strike Canada de 2020. Enfin, j'identifie la propriété privée et l'histoire comme des cadres clés pour comprendre la contradiction au cœur du refus de crise. De manière concrète tout refus qui ne traite pas de la centralité des relations de travail et de propriété privée peut être compris comme un geste palliatif plutôt que comme une action vers l'émancipation. En fin de compte, je soutiens que pour que les bibliothécaires refusent, il faudrait abandonner le libéralisme comme philosophie directrice de la bibliothéconomie et redéfinir la bibliothéconomie en tant que telle

No Justice, Only Struggle: Academic Restructuring and Library Labour in Authoritarian Capitalism

2022 has been a year of overlapping crises. The so-called “Freedom Convoys” paralyzing Canadian communities, the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause excess death and disability, the war in Ukraine, the intensifying effects of climate change, and increasing inflation have all signaled that we find ourselves in a new era, one that can be described as authoritarian capitalism. In this article, we view the restructuring of Canadian universities as yet another facet of authoritarian capitalism, which uses overlapping crises to further proletarianize library labour and fully subsume it into the “learning factory.” Using Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson’s theorization of the politics of capital’s operations, we examine the library restructuring processes taking place at four Canadian universities: Alberta, Brock, Laurentian, and OCAD. We view the reorganizations taking place there as efforts on behalf of university administrators to use the intensification of global forces of capitalism to exploit academic librarian labour. Ultimately, we argue that Canadian librarians are witnessing both formal and real subsumption in Canadian universities, precipitated by the overlapping crises outlined earlier. As a result, we insist that librarians need to develop a politics of struggle to build collective consciousness and action in the face of authoritarian capitalism.2022 a été une année de crises en chevauchement. Les soi-disant « Convois de la liberté » pour paralyser les communautés canadiennes, la pandémie de COVID-19 qui continue de causer un excès de décès et d'invalidité, la guerre en Ukraine, l'intensification des effets des changements climatiques et l'inflation croissante ont tous signalé que nous nous trouvons dans une nouvelle ère, que l'on peut qualifier de capitalisme autoritaire. Dans cet article, nous considérons la restructuration des universités canadiennes comme une autre facette du capitalisme autoritaire, qui utilise ces crises en chevauchement pour prolétariser davantage le travail bibliothécaire et l'intégrer pleinement dans « l'usine à apprendre ». En utilisant la théorisation de Sandro Mezzadra et Brett Neilson sur la politique des opérations du capital, nous examinons les processus de restructuration des bibliothèques en cours dans quatre universités canadiennes : Alberta, Brock, Laurentienne et OCAD. Nous considérons les réorganisations qui s'y déroulent comme des efforts de la part des administratrices.teurs universitaires d'utiliser l'intensification des forces mondiales du capitalisme pour exploiter le travail des bibliothécaires universitaires. Enfin, nous soutenons que les bibliothécaires canadien.ne.s assistent à une subsomption à la fois formelle et réelle dans les universités canadiennes, précipitée par les crises en chevauchement décrites précédemment. En conséquence, nous insistons sur le fait que les bibliothécaires doivent développer une politique de lutte pour construire une conscience et une action collectives face au capitalisme autoritaire

Thinking Categorically: Why is LIS Afraid of Power?

Why does librarianship hang on to the strict division of the object of inquiry and the subject pursuing inquiry? This paper adopts a conversational form, as seen in feminist work such as Nancy Fraser, Rahel Jaeggi, and Brian Milstein’s Capitalism: A Conversation in Critical Theory (2018) and Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider’s Why Does Patriarchy Persist? (2018) in order to explore the contradiction between activism and research in library and information studies (LIS). We chose this form to connect our philosophical approach with our work, as well as to contribute to a growing body of scholarly work written in forms beyond the traditional empirical article. Our research questions in this conversation are: Is it truly possible to transform the field and what is the implied state of transformation? In exploring these questions, we draw on our experience and several examples of research projects that combine activism and inquiry in LIS, digital humanities, and interdisciplinary education in North America. Projects and movements explored include: We Here//UpRoot Knowledge, Dark Laboratory, Land Grab Universities, and Blackfoot Digital Library. While committed to building community among practitioners and scholars in the field, we are ultimately skeptical of the extent to which the field can indeed be transformed through discursive means alone. We see the devaluation of research by practitioners and the immaterial labor of their activism, pitted against the valuation of “pure research” as the legitimized form of liberal idealist philosophy in LIS. Further, we emphasize that new theoretical frameworks are necessary for LIS to consider transformation that unites both material and immaterial aspects of librarianship, including the dynamic constituent power and assemblage as collective power within the profession. Pre-print first published online 01/30/202